So I was meaning to post this all on Sunday, but visiting parents over the weekend can really push everything back. anyway...
I really found it difficult arguing for or against gamers, despite my experience with playing video games in my earlier years. Of course I don't have as much time with college around, but I felt like I could have offered more during the discussion of gamers. However, I feel as if I could not because of the definition of subculture itself. So far, hip-hop, heavy metal, skinheads, etc. have all contributed in showing us a clear diversion from mainstream culture, whether it is economical, religious, or social reason that causes this diversion. On the contrary, gamers do not seem to isolate themselves from society. The only evidence of doing so is the physical action of isolation, which does not prove to be the same as the other subcultures'. Furthermore, we see advertisements, celebrities, and corporations embracing the use of video games and such. Take a look at the NBA2K13 that is releasing: Not only are the basketball players themselves endorsing the product, but several celebrities, such as Meek Mill, are doing so as well. One might raise the argument that other subcultures too may have hints of mainstream culture, but they also have the evident origins of their subculture roots. I just don't really see that with gamers. If I'm missing anything, please let me know, because it's been bothering me since the discussion on Thursday.
Also, I found this article to be really intriguing: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/10/skyrim-inspires-a-course-at-rice-university/. In sum, Rice University through this one-semester course hopes to aware its students of the powerful impact of gaming, and also why games, especially Skyrim, have chosen the specific components of the Scandanavian culture. This can also be seen with the University of Florida's class with Starcraft: http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2010/08/university-of-florida-gives-up-gives-credit-for-playing-starcraft/.
Lastly, there's media attention given to Starcraft, and the players in South Korea are reveered as highly (If not higher than) as Korean pop stars (K-Pop). What do you guys think of this? I know there were some arguments raised that gaming serves no real purpose, but even colleges to an extent found some usefulness in gaming to the point of making classes about them.
I have to admit that I share your confusion about what to make of the gamer culture. At first glance it seems as though gamer's don't really do anything except perhaps participate in a hobby they enjoy with some of their friends, but nothing deviant or ground-breaking. However I don't think that a subculture must be as extreme as punk or goth to be considered a subculture. I think everyone can agree that gamers are not really resisting anything, except maybe the expectation to live social lives in the real world. On the other hand I don't believe all subcultures have to be defined by resistance of certain cultural norms, but instead by being different from cultural norms in some way. I'd say the best way to classify serious gaming as a subculture would be to consider it as a large group of people with similar interests that partake in activities that are not present in mainstream society, at least not to the extent that they partake in them. Of course the media promotes gaming for marketing purposes and its not an uncommon thing in our society, however hardcore gaming such as the kind seen in 'Second Skin' gives it a unique perspective. These people are no longer playing this game as a hobby, they are building their lives around it. Though they don't have a particular style of clothing or music genre to their name, they DO create guilds and teams online with which they band together and escape from real life struggles. The fact that so many people do it and that it isn't considered "normal" behavior, especially since the media does not promote gaming to this particular extent, makes it a subculture. However this is just my take on it and I'm sure many people will disagree.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree to some extent that the definition of subcultures doesn't necessarily have to be "You have to resist the mainstream culture," but doing so kind of seems too general for me, especially for something as specific as the subcultures. Just the fact that the mainstream culture itself produced this whole gaming crave makes it even harder for me to agree with you. Sure, some gamers take it to the extreme, but anyone can do that with basically anything: I can engage myself more in sports than usual, I can skateboard more, appreciate and listen to music more than others, etc.
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